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It’s Birthday Time for Babies

Most years, more babies are born in August than any other month. Giving every August baby the perfect birthday isn’t just about cake and candles though; it’s about creating equal opportunities for them to grow and thrive. Keep reading to find out how to address disparities so that all babies celebrate a happy, healthy first year.

Build Systems Instead of Cycles

With more babies born, there's even more reason to break cycles of poverty and poor health outcomes, including rising opioid misuse. In a recent article, NICHQ’s Chief Health Officer expanded on why developing comprehensive, coordinated systems is the key to improvement. Find out more here.

Looking for immediate strategies to improve birth rates in vulnerable communities? Sign up for a webinar on preventing and treating opioid use disorder in pregnancy, a condition that too often affects low-income families.

Support Safe Sleep for All

Racial disparities in sleep-related infant deaths persist, with black babies dying at twice the rate of white babies. We can change those numbers by remembering these two principles:

Stay Informed

Join our email network of healthcare and public health professionals, parents, providers and stakeholders who drive transformative change in the systems impacting children’s health. We’ll send you expert opinions, invitations for free webinars and tools that support quality improvement. Together, we can help every child achieve their optimal health.

What People Are Saying

Participation in this project has uncovered new desires for me personally, and for our hospital and community. We are making progress in the little and big things, and changing the way a baby is welcomed into the world step by step. I am so thankful for the Best Fed Beginnings team, the opportunity to gain insight from other hospitals, and the chance to serve with my local hospital. With the drive of this collaborative, we can change the health of our world, one baby at a time.

Amanda Ghent-Parent Partner

For me, NICHQ is uniquely positioned to support complex, system-based efforts to improve child health and healthcare, locally and on a national scale. NICHQ helped my teams succeed by supporting collaboration, information management, and continuous learning. With NICHQ's help, the whole of our work was much greater than the sum of each of our individual efforts!

Bill Adams, MD

Working with NICHQ, I have been able to assist communities all over New York State with their breastfeeding care efforts. The NICHQ staff is experienced, organized and thorough, ensuring each interpersonal interaction is maximally engaging and productive. Because of the way change efforts are organized, I find myself learning new procedural and educational techniques, and even more about my own field! Thanks to NICHQ for including me on this interesting ride.

Casey Rosen-Carole, MD, MPH, MSEd, IBCLC-Project Faculty

NICHQ fosters a collaborative process, not a dictatorial process. You allow us to build success in our community and not try to push any one strategy or model on us. You guide, collaborate and share, but you don’t steer.

Ed Dzedzy-Project Participant

NICHQ fosters a collaborative process, not a dictatorial process. You allow us to build success in our community and not try to push any one strategy or model on us. You guide, collaborate and share, but you don’t steer.

Ed Dzedzy-Project Participant

Being involved with NICHQ has been a career-changing and life-altering experience in many ways. Quality improvement methodology is not additive to my work, it influences how I do my daily work.

Elizabeth Seeliger, AUD-Project Participant

I was very hesitant about quality improvement in the beginning but NICHQ reformed me. I have been working within our region and our state with health partners for years, but we have made more progress working with NICHQ through your learning process and collaboration than with any other group.

Ed Dzedzy-Project Participant

I am so impressed by the processes that the NICHQ staff use so well to enable teams in many different locations to learn and share, to practice QI processes, to support and inspire each other. NICHQ helps busy people find time to do important and difficult work that improves clinical practice, and to sustain the changes they themselves developed. I’m lucky to have been connected to NICHQ!

Elizabeth G. Crockett, PhD, RD, CDN, CLC-Project Participant

From the very first meeting, they embraced what we're trying to do in Texas and never missed a beat... It's a pretty well-oiled machine and it's been exciting to work with them.

Veronica Hendrix-Project Funder

In over 21 years of caring for my son with complex congenital heart defects plus my 20 years working in healthcare quality improvement and my 6 plus years as a patient advocate, I've never known anyone to embrace closing the gaps between patients and healthcare institutions or doctors, as much as the people from NICHQ.

Tami Rich-Parent Partner

Although I work with data every day, NICHQ gave me the tools to look at data through a different lens in order to support change and improve quality for newborn screening.

Sarah McKasson, MPH-Project Participant

It has been an honor to work with NICHQ as a Parent Faculty member. I admire how NICHQ continues to center their work around the people directly impacted by it: families and children. They actively work to include these voices throughout project implementation, ensuring that policies remain grounded in patient experiences and feedback. The expertise and professionalism of NICHQ staff has meant that I always feel supported, and confident that all stake holders are included in the process.

Rebekka Henriksen-Parent Partner

I have been impressed to see the policy changes across our state take hold, moving toward a new care standard and I am optimistic about the changes which are continuing throughout our state.

Pamela Berens, MD-Project Faculty

Being a parent partner for NICHQ ...has been a pure honor. I would encourage anyone that has the opportunity to work on a NICHQ project to take advantage of it. Working with them has opened many doors for me in the medical field.